Removable bridge-plate attachment



June 3 1.924. 1,496,238

C. W. LOKEY REMOVABLE BRIDGE PLATE ATTACHMENT Filed Jan. 14, 1922 Patented June 3, I924.

usurp stares CHARLES W. LOKEY, 0F BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.

nnmovnntn BRIDGE-PLATE n'rracnmnn'r;

Application filed January 14, 1922. Serial .No. 529,383.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. 'LoKnY, acitizen of the-United States of America, residing at Birmingham in the county of Jefferson and State of Alabama, have in vented certain new and useful Improvements in Removable Bridge-Plate Attachments, of which the following is a specification. 1

My invention relates to a removable bridge plate attachment.

The object of my invention is to'furnish an attachment having the requisite strength and durability while at the same time possessing the flexibility or freedom of movement in the directions necessary to permit of the free or normal tooth, movement on the part of both the bridge plate and the abutment tooth- A further object is to so design the attachment as to make provision for the settling of the plate or bridge due to spongy or softening gums or other causes without bringing undue strain on the attachment itself or on the abutment tooth.

A further object of my invention is to allow the replacement or interchange of the anchor wires without requiring the revulcanization of the bridge plate to which said wires aresecured. By this means I make it possible to change the anchor wire when necessary to take careof changed conditions or when broken.

More particularly my invention contemplates the improvement" of the removable bridge plate attachment forming the subject matter of Letters Patents Nos. 1,193,034,

and 1,299,364, issued to me respectively on August 1st, 1916 and April 1st, 1919, wherein I have shown a keeper attached to the abutment tooth and having its side walls undercut to receive an anchor wire attached to the bridge plate and having the form Of't an inverted U which is adapted to straddle and engage the sides of the keeper. In the earlier patent the loop maintains contact for the full length of its sides against the sides of the keeper and thus affords a rigid attachment between the anchor and keeper. In my latter patent the loop was contracted to have a single point contact near the center with the sides of the keeper, thus permitting the plate to rock to a limited extent about an axis at right angles to the ungrooved side face of the keeper. For some purposes these fastenings were found to be too rigid and one purpose of my present invention is to afford an increased flexibility to the attachment without any decrease in the strength of the attachment for the bridge plate.

To this end my invention contemplates providing free play in an attachment of the anchor wire to the bridge plate itself leaving it permissible to utilize either of. the joints suggested between the wire and the keeper. This joint can be accomplished in many ways but those that are preferred are illustrated in "the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification, and in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a portion of. agum showing the abutment tooth and a removable bridge plate, which latter is broken away to show the sleeve fastening for the anchor wire in side elevation.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the keeper onan abutment tooth.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view corresponding to Fig. 1 showing the sleeve fastening detached from the bridge plate with the fastening parts assembled.

Fig. 4 is an end elevation of the bridge plate showing the sleeve fastening.

Fig. 5 is a view partially broken away showing one type of anchor wire mounted in the sleeve.

Fig. 6 is a similar view showing a difierent type of anchor wire mounted ina modification of the sleeve.

Figs. 7 8 and 9 are side views showing modified types of joints for affording different angular movements for the bridge plate. 7

Figs. 10 and 11 are front views illustrating different types of the anchor sleeve fastenings.

Similar reference numeralsrefer to similar parts throughout the drawings. v I have illustrated my invention in a typical application, wherein a bridge plate 1 is adapted to be connected by my improved attachment to an abutment tooth 2, which has akeeper'3 made fast thereto and provided with top and side grooves, or as more particularly described in my Letters Patents aforesaid. I vulcanize or otherwise secure in the end of the bridge plateadjacent to the abutment tooth a sleeve fastening 4 which is preferably formedby a piece of rigid metallic tubing flattened and having its outer underside cut away at 5; and

y of the free or normal tooth movement.

having sideholes 6 which are adapted to receive the out-turned trunnion ends 7 of the horizontal bottom legs 8 of the anchor wire loop 9. The loop 9 stands at right angles to the legs 8 and the trunnion ends 7 are bent outwardly in opposite directions in the plane with the legs 8 and at right angles thereto. The wire loop is made of any metal suitable and has a suflicient spring in it to permit the legs 8 to be pressed together sufiiciently. to be inserted in the end of the sleeve 4 and upon being released they expand and Project the trunnion ends 7 through the holes 6 in the sleeve, thus permanently interlocking'the anchor wire with the attachment sleeve. In my preferred form the holes 6 are vertically elongated, as shown in Fig. 3, thus permitting the. bridge plate to rock from side to side and at the same time to have vertical andangular play about the pin 7. Where desired, however, the hole may be horizontally elongated as at 10, in Fig. 7, or it may be in the form of an enlarged circular opening 11, Fig. 8,

which will permit almost universal movement for the anchor trunnion's 7 Itt' desired the sleeve may be formed with ball seats 12, Figs. 6 and 9, in which the rounded trunnion ends 13 of the wire legs 8 are adapted to engage so as to have a partial ball and socket joint movement.

In Fig. 10 I show the preferred type of sleeve in front elevation with its front lower wall notched out a't-5. If desired however the sleeve may be in the form shown in Fig. 11 in which a plate 14L has its side edges 15 bent downwardly and under it on a curve to form the side walls which receive the legs 8 of the anchor wire. The top edge of the sleeve by engaging the anchor wire will limit or prevent the plate lifting away from the gum or dropping when applied to upper plates, but the bot-tom notch 5 in the sleeve makes full allowance for movement of the plate towards the gum without bringing undue strain on the attachment or the abutment tooth.

In operation, having vulcanized the sleeve 4 or 14:, as the case may be, in the bridge plate and having soldered or otherwise secured the keeper 3 to the abutment tooth the anchor wire is interlocked with :the attachment sleeve in the manner described and theloop 9 is caused to engage the keeper asshown in Fig. 3. This affords an attachment having all of the requisite attaching strength for the bridgeplate, but which will.

according to the conditions in each particular case, enable the operator, by the selection of a sleeve having the type of 'hole 6, 10 or 11, or the ball socket 152, to permit the bridge plate to have the requisite "flexibility of movement which is necessary to take care Though I have described with great particularity the details of the embodiment of the invention herein shown, it is not to be construed that I am limited thereto as changes in arrangement and substitution of equivalents may be made by those skilled in the art'without departing from the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a removable bridge plate attachment, in combination, a keeper, an anchor adapted to engage the keeper and having an angledextension, and means to detachably connect said angled extension to a bridge plate or the like.

2. In a removable bridge plate attachment, in combination, a keeper, an anchor having one end adapted to-engage the keeper and having its other end bent at an angle to said keeper and adapted to be engaged in the bridge plate or the like, and a receivin socket in the bridge plate in which sai angled end of the anchor is mounted free to permit a limited angular movement of the bridge plate relative to the keeper.

3. In a removable bridge plate attachment, in combination, a keeper adapted to be attached to an abutment, an anchor having at one end a portion adapted to engage the keeper and at its other end an angled portion adapted to connect the anchor to a bridge plate or the like, and a socket in the bridge plate in whichsaid angled end is detachably mounted, which socket opens towards said keeper.

4. In a removable brid e plate attachment, the combination wit a bridge plate or the like having a substantially horizontal end socket opening towards an abutment, and an anchor having one portion adapted to engage said abutment and having another portion composed of flexible members adaptedto enter and detachably engage in said socket.

5. A removable bridge plate attachment in accordance with claim 4;, in which said flexible members are also sprin members adapted to interlock for limited universal play with lateral recesses in said socket.

6. The combination with a bridge plate and the like, of a metallic socketfixed therein, an anchor wire adapted to detachably I interlock with said socket.

7 The combination with an attachment plate adapted to be permanently fixed in a bridge plate or the like, of an anchor wire interchangeably connected to said attachment plate.

'8. The combination with an attachment plate adapted to be permanentlymounted in a bridge plateor the like, of an anchor wire detachably and hingedly connected to said attachment plate.

9. The combination with an attachment plate adapted to be permanently mounted in a bridge plate or the like and having side recesses, of an anchor wire having its ends outturned into interlocking engagement with said sockets.

10. The combination with an attachment plate adapted to be permanently mounted in a bridge plate or the like and having side recesses, of an anchor wire having its ends in interlocking engagement with said sockets and of such size relative to the sockets as to permit a limited free angular play between the anchor and the attachment plate.

11. In an attachment for bridge plates and the like, a keeper adapted for a rigid attachment to an abutment tooth, a socket permanently and rigidly anchored in the ridge plate, and an interchangeable anchor element having-means at one end to engage the keeper and having means at the other end to interlock with the socket free for a predetermined limited angular play.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

CHARLES W. LOKEY.

Witness:

NOMIE WELSH. 

